Well the weather outside is frightful... and so is the fact that I failed to publish November's newsletter... or send an update at all until now...
Mea culpa, November Reads fail, NaNoWriMo fail, last minute donations-to-great-causes gift ideas, & a thing I made that I thought was funny
Oh. Hey. Um. Sorry? 😬
Turns out, the end of November and the first bit of December have been a tiny bit hectic.
You may be thinking, “Hey, December’s almost over, buddy. Too little, too late,” and then you might be harumphing at your preferred device and literally turning your back to the screen in protest. If that is you: fair.
If I’ve still got even a smidge of your attention though, I just want to apologize, and to say that the next post (hopefully Jan. 1st) will be a combined November/December/2022-Wrap-up extravaganza. And maybe I’ll be better about planning posts around the holidays next year. One can dream.
Another post I never got to back in November was going to be titled “NaNoWriMo Update,” so I figured I’d include the short version here.
Shortest version: the goal was 50,000 words of a novel draft; the result was 6,000 scattered words.
But, I mean, I think some of them 6,000 words are pretty decent when strung together like that, and I worked out more of what the thing is going to be and how it all might work. So, big fail + little win.
Or as the sad, never-to-be-finished draft I started for that post said: “But what do we say to the god of defeatism and despondency? Not today.”
Unrelatedly: if you’re a person who’s celebrating some sort of gift-giving holiday soon and find yourself scrambling, one last-minute idea that can be cool (depending on the recipient) is donating to a good cause in someone’s name or honor or whatever. Some folks hate that, but when your back is against the wall, sometimes it’s the best one can offer. And some folks love it!
Anyway, I was listening to the latest episode of an excellent podcast (“5-4,” which breaks down Supreme Court cases—or, as their tag line states: “5-4 is a podcast about how much the Supreme Court sucks”) in which the hosts presented a Giving Guide, and all of the organizations were great, so I thought I’d simply boost them here:
The one that really caught my eye (for obvious reasons), is called Freedom Reads.
From their website:
“Freedom Reads is a first-of-its-kind organization that empowers people through literature to confront what prison does to the spirit. With the Freedom Library and with our literary programs, Freedom Reads supports the efforts of people in prison to imagine new possibilities for their lives. Freedom begins with a book.”
Also, their website has this amazing image with its own recommendations, which I thought I’d pass along:
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James (I read and loved this one)
These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore
Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat (also read and loved)
The Conference of the Birds: Selections from Attar by Raficq Abdulla
A Burst of Light and Other Essays by Audre Lorde (have read and loved selections)
Black Skin White Masks by Frantz Fanon
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (have read and loved)
Waiting for the Barbarians by J. M. Coetzee
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Every Shut Eye Ain't Asleep by Michael S. Harper
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (have read and loved)
Anywho, you can find out more and donate at their website, https://freedomreads.org.
The other excellent organizations the 5-4 hosts recommended are below, with brief descriptions of each and a link to their website where you can learn more, donate, and/or get involved.
Repro Legal Defense Fund
The Repro Legal Defense Fund provides bail and strong defenses for anyone criminalized for something that happens during pregnancy, and the folks who directly support them.
https://reprolegaldefensefund.org/
The Bail Project
The Bail Project combats mass incarceration by disrupting the money bail system—one person at a time. We restore the presumption of innocence, reunite families, and challenge a system that criminalizes race and poverty. We’re on a mission to end cash bail and create a more just, equitable, and humane pretrial system.
The Trevor Project
The Trevor Project’s mission is to end suicide among LGBTQ young people.
https://www.thetrevorproject.org/
Youth Sentencing and Reentry Project
YSRP works to keep children out of adult jails and prisons, and to bring home people who were sentenced as children to life in prison without the possibility of parole (“Juvenile Lifers”).
The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES)
We are a nonprofit agency that promotes justice by providing free and low-cost legal services to underserved immigrant children, families, and refugees. With legal services, social programs, bond assistance, and an advocacy team focused on changing the narrative around immigration in this country, RAICES is operating on the national frontlines of the fight for immigration rights. We defend the rights of immigrants and refugees, empower individuals, families, and communities, and advocate for liberty and justice.
Native American Rights Fund
The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) holds governments accountable. We fight to protect Native American rights, resources, and lifeways through litigation, legal advocacy, and legal expertise.
Youth Art and Self-empowerment Project
The Youth Art & Self-empowerment Project (YASP) is building a youth-led movement to end the practice of trying and incarcerating young people as adults and create a world without youth incarceration. Through our work in the Philadelphia jails, YASP provides space for incarcerated young people to express themselves creatively and to develop as leaders both within and beyond the prison walls. Young people who have been through the adult court system are at the forefront of YASP, leading the movement to keep young people out of adult prisons and to create new possibilities for youth around the city.
Hearts and Bones Rescue
Hearts & Bones Rescue is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dog rescue organization based in Dallas, TX and New York City. We're a close network of fosters and volunteers who collaborate to rescue shelter dogs and find them loving, forever homes. As a foster-based rescue, we focus on providing all of our dogs with secure and caring environments while they wait for their forever families. Hearts & Bones is dedicated to building a coalition of individuals and organizations across the country to save dogs in the areas where shelters are under the greatest stress, and transport our pups to forever families ready to give them the lives they deserve.
https://www.heartsandbonesrescue.com/
Our Children’s Trust
The world’s only non-profit public interest law firm dedicated exclusively to securing the legal rights of youth to a healthy atmosphere and safe climate, based on the best available science.
https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org/
More about the 5-4 podcast here, if you’re interested. It’s very good, but also very depressing (the show notes for the aforementioned episode read, “We spend the better part of the year bumming you out about the many ways the law fails to actually provide justice. Thankfully, there are organizations that provide mutual aid and support to right some of the wrongs committed by our judiciary. Here are some of our favorite orgs that are offering healing, advocacy and care, to build the future that we want”).
Finally, because most of the U.S. is freezing or FREEZING right now, I made something that made myself laugh. I know at least a few of you also will probably find it amusing. If you’ve watched Parks & Rec anyway. Here’s to one of the best fictional headlines of all time.
Today, we are all Ice Town Ice Clowns
On that note. Bye! See you in 2023.